Negatives of Using Ceramic Tiles

Tile is durable and attractive but comes with significant drawbacks.

For centuries, ceramic tile has been a popular material for finishing walls and floors. It is durable, comes in a wide range of colors and styles, needs little maintenance, and stands up to wear from heavy traffic. But there are some important negatives with using ceramic tiles to consider before choosing this material for your home improvement project.

Hard to Install

Ceramic tile installation is a challenging process for a do-it-yourselfer, particularly in complex installation situations with a lot of angles and corners. You must remove old flooring or wall treatments. The surface must be structurally sound, clean, dry, level and free of movement. Rough floors may need an underlay before laying tile. You must buy or rent tile cutting tools. You need a long list of basic hand tools and supplies. The process involves preparing the surface, applying mortar or other adhesive, laying the tile, allowing the adhesive or mortar to cure for 48 to 72 hours, applying cement grout in all tile joints, caulking the edges and cleaning up. With floors, allow the finished floor to cure for an additional 72 hours before placing into service.

Too Permanent

Ceramic tile is a permanent material. But when decorating styles and trends change, tile’s permanence becomes a major negative. If your installation’s appearance becomes dated or you are just tired of the look, removing and replacing your tile is a major renovation project. Also, because ceramic tile is hard and brittle, it is prone to cracking and chipping from impacts. Replacing a damaged tile without doing harm to adjacent tiles is a difficult undertaking. On countertops, the grout between tiles can become dirty and discolored. Grout is hard to clean.

Unforgiving Surface

Tile is unforgiving on breakables such as glass or pottery, which usually shatter into lots of small pieces when dropped on a ceramic tile floor or countertop. It also is not easy on muscles or joints, such as elbows and knees, if you fall onto it. People who must stand on hard tile floors for long periods, such as when preparing meals in a tiled kitchen, may suffer sore feet and muscle fatigue.

Feels Cold

Ceramic tile feels colder to the touch than other surfaces, especially to bare feet in a cool bathroom in winter. Ceramic tile is dense and takes a long time to warm up. Often, homeowners have to put down an area rug to make their bathroom comfortable to the feet. In summer, warm ceramic tile takes a long time to cool, adding to the load on your air conditioning.